Real Sociedad and Real Madrid go head-to-head in Saturday’s La Liga top-three six-pointer at Reale Arena, with bookmakers favouring the visitors. You can use Infernobet to place a bet on this game, but make sure you look at our predictions at the end of the article before betting.
Newly-promoted Espanyol pulled off a narrow 1-0 home win over Sociedad last time out, halting the Basque side’s run of 13 unbeaten matches in La Liga.
Sat seven points adrift of top-placed Madrid ahead of the kick-off, La Real can ill-afford another slip-up here if they are to keep their faint hopes of mounting a surprise title challenge this term.
Returning to the famed, Anoeta where they have yet to taste defeat in competitive action this season, should be a much-needed confidence boost for Imanol Alguacil’s team.
However, standing in their way will be a high-flying Madrid that come into proceedings on the back of five La Liga wins in a row, including a hard-earned 1-0 home downing of Athletic Bilbao in midweek.
Now unbeaten in seven top-flight outings, Los Merengues will be looking to inflict irreversible damage on Sociedad’s top-place pursuit and at least maintain a healthy seven-point lead on cross-town rivals Atletico Madrid.
Real Sociedad vs Real Madrid Head-to-Head
Both last season’s La Liga meetings between Sociedad and Madrid ended in uneventful draws, including a ‘nil-nil’ stalemate at Reale Arena back in September 2020.
The Txuri-Urdin have only won two of their last 14 home league matches against Los Blancos (D3, L9), though one of those triumphs came at the expense of the current Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti back in August 2014.
History is firmly on the visitors’ side here, with Madrid winning more La Liga away matches (30) and scoring more top-flight road goals (126) versus Sociedad than against any other adversary.
Sociedad might be going unbeaten at home in La Liga this season (W4, D3), but Alguacil’s men have struggled to provide home fans with entertainment.
Indeed, excitement has been relatively sparse at Reale Arena this term, with six of Sociedad’s seven top-flight home fixtures so far featuring one goal or less.
That’s in line with the Basque team’s underwhelming form in front of goal as they’ve failed to get on the scoresheet in their last two La Liga outings in a row.
Another scoring blank against Madrid here would see the Txuri-Urdin fail to find the back of the net in three consecutive league games for the first time since November 2018.
Mikel Oyarzabal, who tops the club’s scoring charts in La Liga this season with six goals under his belt, will be looking to return to the board for the first time since early October.
Since scoring in a 1-1 away draw at Getafe on October 3, the Spanish forward has missed five of Sociedad’s last seven league matches through injury.
No team has picked up more La Liga away points than Madrid (19) this season, with Los Blancos registering their biggest tally of wins (six) in their opening eight away league outings of the season since 2014/15.
Since losing 2-1 at Espanyol in early October, Ancelotti’s men have won their last three La Liga games on hostile turf despite failing to land a single clean sheet in that run, and are sitting comfortably atop of the La Liga table.
Unlike Sociedad, last season’s La Liga runners-up are no strangers to staging comebacks, having won three of four top-flight matches in which they conceded first so far this season (L1).
Los Merengues take the field as the only side in Spain’s top-flight to have smashed a 30-goal barrier after 15 rounds of fixtures this term (36).
Much of the credit for Madrid’s free-scoring form this season goes to Vinicius Junior, who has racked up nine goals and three assists in 15 La Liga appearances to date.
Having netted in back-to-back league games before Madrid’s midweek win over Bilbao, the Brazilian prodigy could become the first player born in the 21st century to hit double figures in a single La Liga campaign.
Therefore, there won’t be a lack of motivation for Vinicius to maintain his noticeable rise under Ancelotti.
Real Sociedad (4-4-2): Alex Remiro; Andoni Gorosabel, Igor Zubeldia, Robin Le Normand, Diego Rico; Portu, Martin Zubimendi, Ander Guevara, Adnan Januzaj; Alexander Isak, Mikel Oyarzabal.
Real Madrid (4-3-3): Thibaut Courtois; Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao, David Alaba, Ferland Mendy; Luka Modric, Casemiro, Toni Kroos; Rodrygo, Karim Benzema, Vinicius Junior.
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